


Black Whiskers

by Sung_gi



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Chaptered, M/M, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-03-10 11:26:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3288650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sung_gi/pseuds/Sung_gi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Donghae doesn't have the life of a normal boy. He grows up in an environment where normal people would die easily. He has to survive alone before he reunites with his family. Animals are what he considers a norm for himself and he has to learn how to be human. It's all new and scary for him, but once he gets over the initial shock he discovers a world full of adventures.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

There has been a time when even the gunpowder wasn’t known to anyone yet. There has been a time when the fire was rare and not everyone realized the dangers of it. There have been lots of wars, humans wanting to get more power and wealth for themselves. People have been killed for that since the beginning of time. 

During those ancient times, there were people who had powers normal greedy humans could only dream of. These powerful people knew to keep themselves in the shadows. Ordinal humans didn’t know they were different nor did they know what they possessed. 

These people have been believed to be gods. Some of them were doctors of their people. Some of them just lived by themselves.

In a remote village deep in the mountains of the Asian continent there was a young couple. They lived happily in peace. The humans of the village let them be by themselves but they weren’t feared, quite the opposite. Together they had achieved the respect of the people with their kind hearts and mysterious silence.

However, their happiness didn’t last forever. Their lives became predictable as nothing happened in the small village. The wars were fought somewhere else and most of the young adults moved away from the village when they got married or found a job to do somewhere else. 

It was one fateful night that the couple had a serious conversation about what they wanted to do with their lives. They couldn’t just live and grow old without doing anything in their lives. 

Neither of them wanted to bring a baby into the crazy, dangerous world they lived in. But they definitely needed something to bring life into their dull house. They spent days pondering what that something could be until one day she came to her man and told him what it was they needed.

A pet. They needed a pet to brighten up their cloudy days. But not just whatever pet. It had to be something extraordinary, something special. 

Something no one had ever had before.

That was when they made the decision that changed the world, messed up with evolution.

 

A boy, at nearly seventeen years of age, showed up on their doorstep along with hundreds of others. The couple had decided to lure in the one person they wanted by offering him a job. The moment they let him into the house as their next attendant, they knew he was the one they had been looking for. 

Handsome and young. Orphan with no family to miss him. Silent at first but fair, smiling and talkative after he got over his initial nervousness. Dark brown hair fell over his eyes although he had wrapped it behind his head but the knot was loose. His clothes were clean although dusty from the travelling. 

The boy was about to burst in happiness when he heard he got the job. The couple offered him everything he would ever need - a home, food and clothes. He was shown his own room in the house, behind the kitchen. 

The couple was satisfied with their decision and patiently waited until the boy settled and got used to them. Ten days it took before the boy began to address them without being asked to talk first. Over thirty days before he started to smile and laugh, and spend time with the couple.

She decided it was the time to move forwards with their plan. They had already brought the animal of their choice into the house but had made sure the boy wouldn’t see him. The wild cat was beautiful with his elegant moves, perfect fur and long tail. Everything they had wished for.

One day the boy was washing the dishes outside the house in the beautiful garden the couple had. He was kneeling before a small stream of clear mountain found water when she came to him. At first he didn’t even notice her but when he did he smiled brightly and greeted her politely. 

She knelt on the ground next to the boy and watched him do his duties. They talked about the day and how beautiful the sunshine was on the blue sky. She had grown very fond of the boy and wanted to know him even better. She also knew it was time for them to tell him they weren’t ordinary people.

Once he was done she helped him carry the porcelains back into the house even though he refused her help at first. Her husband was waiting for them, sitting on the floor in his gorgeous outfit that emphasized his good looks. He asked them to join him and asked her to sit next to him whereas the boy was to kneel before them.

They asked the boy if he knew anything about magicians. The answer surprised them both. He easily admitted he believed in them and had always dreamed of meeting them even though people said they were just stories.

The boy was happy but confused when they told him they were magicians. They had to show him their powers before he trusted their words.

It was proven that the couple’s ambitious dream was going to be a lot easier than they expected. They told the boy about their wishes of uniting him with a wild cat. He asked them to give him a night time to think about it.

In the morning he came to them and declared he was ready. He said he had nothing to lose, only something miraculous to gain if everything went as the two magicians had explained. 

They took the boy into the room where they had held the wild cat. The boy was just as mesmerized by the cat’s beauty as were the couple. 

 

The boy screamed. He screams were so loud they pierced the porcelains that held all the herbs they had needed. The porcelains shattering into pieces was added to the sounds. 

The boy was crying on the ground, holding onto his head that was near exploding. It hurt more than anything he could imagine. The cheetah was lying lifelessly on the ground next to him. He wasn’t moving, not breathing. 

The couple were determined to finish what they had started even though they both felt sick. The boy they had grown to love was near death. They could sense it. But at the same time they knew if they stopped now the boy would die for sure.

They had to finish what they were doing. 

Suddenly the whole room filled with thick black smoke. The smoke surrounded them all, blocked their views. They couldn’t hear one another, the boy’s cries died down. 

Just a little bit more. The two of them were exhausted, their powers being drained out of them into the spell they were doing. 

The spell worked. They knew it when they were thrown off the ground by the invisible force. She crashed into the wall behind her whereas he flew against the window, cracking his back painfully against the edge. The smoke slowly disappeared from the room. 

On the spot where there had been a wild animal and a boy, was now lying a naked creature. He looked like a human being, but they immediately knew he wasn’t one. This boy wasn’t the same he had been just a moment before. 

His brown hair was an odd shade of yellowish brown now. His handsome, boyish features had got a harder edge. He looked older yet there was something in him that reminded them of a young boy.

The boy slept through days without waking up but the couple knew their spell had worked. In his sleep the boy changed from his human body into the one of a cheetah. Sometimes he slept mostly in his human body, just with a tail, whiskers and ears of a cat.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning...

About twenty years ago a woman was rushed to the hospital. She was ready to give birth. The labor went well without complications. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy – me. 

I was taken to another room soon after my birth just like all the other newborn babies. However, that's when everything went wrong. The nurses got my name messed up with another boy’s and thus I was given to wrong parents who happily took me home.

Only after a week or so my "father" was transferred to work in the US and they already had everything planned out. So we moved to the northern parts of the country, near the border of Canada. 

That was when I did my first transformation. I was a baby and did it based on my innate reflexes. Fortunately I did it with both of my "parents" present and it probably saved my life. 

It doesn't mean they didn't freak out, though, which is exactly what they did. 

They didn't know what to do, knowing that people would never believe them. I mean, I wouldn't believe it if I wasn’t a freak myself. 

And because they didn't know what to do they chose to do the easiest and the only thing they could come up with: dump me in the forest. 

I was lucky once again though. I didn't die, obviously. 

My guardian angel was shown to be a female mountain lion. She had just given birth to her own baby kitten just a bit further from where I was left. She hadn't been lucky with her labor, unfortunately. Her only male kitten had been born dead. 

She was devastated because of her lost baby and her hormones were messing with her sanity. She found me quickly and like a miracle she didn't eat me straight away. I believe it was because of faith. I had lost my parents and she had her baby. 

She did the unthinkable and took me with her. She carried me to the safest area of her territory. 

Whereas the first time I changed risked my survival, the second time I did it saved me. In a couple of days she was getting hopeless when I didn't act like normal cougar kittens but when I suddenly changed her hopes got up. She was able to feed me better and she understood my needs a lot easier than when I was in my human form. 

 

She took me as her own. She raised me patiently. Because I'm not a real mountain lion my development is much slower – more or less the same as the development of a human. My cougar body also developed at the same rate as my human body. 

I was about two when she came in heat again and gave birth to a beautiful male kitten. She introduced him to me immediately and we became really close. She was a talented mother and took care of both of us. 

By that time I had already begun to develop my identity as a mountain lion and I stayed mostly in that form. It made it easier for me to get along with my new brother also. We came along so well she even left him to take care of me when she went away to hunt. He grew up much faster than I which made it easier for her to take care of me. 

It was also a bad thing that he grew up faster than I did. After two years he was a grown up cougar and he left our mother's territory. 

She mated again soon after that and gave birth to two kittens, one boy and one girl. The boy was born dead but the girl grew up strong and healthy. It was the first time that I became a big brother but that period didn't take long. She grew up before me and I was again the baby our mother had to take care of. 

I was about ten when my mother passed away. At that time there were two of my sisters, nearly adults, and they took me under their care. Usually cougars live alone but my sisters decided to share the duty of taking care of me and they split our mother's territory. They took turns hunting for me and keeping an eye on me. 

I wouldn't be alive without them. 

Not long after our mother died I began to explore her territory more and made longer trips away from our nest. I was curious just like any other youngster, cougar or human. I experienced things and became familiar with my other form. Of course I soon realized it would be much warmer for me to be in my cat form than in my human one. During winter I stayed only in my cougar form. 

My sisters, although they loved and cared about me didn't appreciate me changing my form. They had learned to avoid and fear humans and our mother had taught them that I was the only one they were allowed to approach. It still made them feel highly uncomfortable though. That’s why I always hid myself whenever I wanted to change and explore my other form. 

 

I was nearing the age of twelve when I first came across with a human. I had been taught a lot about them and I knew not to cross paths with them but something in that female made my curiosity take over my rationality. There was something oddly familiar in her. 

She had tiny features, back and front legs and small face. Her eyes were tiny and dark and her hair was pitch black, open behind her back. She wasn’t exactly how my mother and all my siblings had described humans to be but she was definitely one of them. 

Maybe there were differences in their features, just like cougars had based on the area they lived in. That was the only conclusion I could come up with anyway.

I was observing her as she walked up the hill, her legs falling into the snow and making it difficult for her to proceed. I watched her with wild curiosity, trying hard to figure out how she had grown such a weird looking fur. It was of different colors, black and white and beige and brown and...red? I couldn’t even name the colors because they were so weird for someone who had lived in the woods for all his life.

Staying in the cover of the tree I followed her movements for as long as I could. I was fascinated by her but I couldn’t recognize why. 

Silently I climbed down from the tree but kept a safe distance to her. I couldn’t deny my curiosity and like the stupid kitten I was I let it take over me. I made sure to stay behind her back as I soon realized she was not paying much attention to her surroundings and thus didn’t turn her head much. She was just walking forwards into the direction of the border of our territory. 

I was beginning to hesitate when she neared the border. I knew better than to cross the line because I still wasn’t grown up and wouldn’t be able to defend myself if I got caught. I knew my sisters weren’t anywhere near me so they wouldn’t come to rescue me either. 

Although curiosity was killing me I still decided against it and returned back to our nest. I got scolded by both of my sisters since they hadn’t found me and I hadn’t returned their calls. I was basically beaten and with my tail low I crawled up the tree and settled on the crook of a thick branch.

 

It was only a couple of days later when I ran into the female human again. She was around the same area as she was the first time I saw her. Her fur was different now and she was heading to a different direction. 

Again, I hid in the cover of the trees and observed her as she made her way in the snow. I always wondered why it was hard for humans to walk on snow since it was so easy for me with my big paws. My mother had always told me how humans had never developed a proper body for such environment and how they shouldn’t even be there. Now I understood what she had meant.

I was just about to lose her out of my sight when I jumped down from the tree and began to follow her on the ground. I was keeping my senses highly alert but my attention was miraculously drawn to her. It was like magic.

I soon forgot about my surroundings and the possible dangers lurking behind the trees. I was too concentrated on her to be wise. 

I had made sure to be as silent as possible, which was very silent, and kept my body low. I was so low my tummy touched the surface of the snow. My eyes were fixated onto her and my nose was trying to catch as much of her scent as possible. I was hypnotized by her.

I was edging closer to her because she had to stop after every second step she took to pull her leg up and out of the snow. She was also getting tired but something kept her moving, determined. 

Suddenly I was forcefully ripped away from my trance when I heard an angry growl that clearly came from an adult male cougar. I was only quick enough to turn my head in the direction of the growl only to see a blur of reddish brown. 

The next thing I knew was the painfully sharp teeth on the back of my neck and nails scratching my chest. I wailed in pain and tried to twist away but it was pointless. I was still a youngster whereas the other cougar was an adult and him being a male didn’t make my possibilities of getting away look any better.

I was determined to fight myself free, however. I growled and tried to fight free the best I could. I twisted and struggled, all the time growling and crying for my sisters for help. I had no idea where they were but if they were anywhere near me they would come to help me. 

I just hoped the male cougar didn’t get the best of me before they arrived.

I was so focused on saving my skin that I didn’t notice the human at all. I totally failed to notice how she had come closer to us and was...making weird noises. I didn’t know what the hell she was trying to accomplish. Cougars don’t speak human.

Suddenly, completely out of the blue, the male cougar released his hold on me but pinned me down onto the snow. He practically sat on me but when I tried to break free he lied down onto my back.

Humiliated and defeated, I succumbed to him. I lowered my ears to the back of my head and let out a very displeased hiss, emphasizing it by showing off my teeth. The cougar, however, didn’t seem to pay much mind to me as he was watching closely the human who was walking closer and closer to us. 

I was starting to panic. There were the two things I had to fear the most in my life – an adult male cougar and a human. And they had me under their mercy.

I couldn’t understand what the human was trying to do and I couldn’t understand why this male cougar let her come close to us. I was even more confused and scared when the female human lowered herself onto the snow and brought her front paw to the head of the male cougar. And he actually purred when she touched his fur.

The behavior I was witnessing from both of them was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. 

It turned into something even more bizarre when the male cougar lowered his head until it was resting just beside mine. I was tempted to bite him but something in this situation made me hold back my instincts. 

The human was still petting him but her eyes were focused onto me. When I noticed this I let her know I wasn’t comfortable with her watching when I was pushed to the ground by an adult cougar. I growled and snapped my teeth together at her. 

She flinched a little but then returned to pet the other cougar. 

Although her reaction was very modest and not really what I had expected it seemed as if the male cougar took it offending. Like my mother used to do when I had disobeyed her, he gently bit down on the back of my neck where my skin was loose and soft. I whined and pressed my head down like a good kitten. 

It was so humiliating.

The male loosened his hold when I showed him I wasn’t going to fight him. At that point my mind was completely blank. I was wondering if this day would be the last one I was ever going to see – if these two weirdos were going to end my life.

That thought was suddenly wiped away when the male did the next unexpected move. He made a noise that sounded like a purr and playfully bit on my ear. It didn’t hurt but it definitely took me off guard for good. 

That was an affectionate thing to do. It was usually what mothers did to their kittens – just like mine had done. Now only my sisters did that to me when they got back from hunting. And as if biting and licking my ear wasn’t enough he pushed his head against mine.

I was totally dumbstruck. 

After some time – I don’t know how long he kept me pressed into the snow – he slowly sat up on me. I didn’t dare to make a move, afraid of what he might do. Then he ever so slowly and carefully moved completely off of me. 

I was still afraid to move but I couldn’t stop myself from taking a look at what was going on. The male cougar was standing between her hind legs as she had stood straight but he was still watching me closely. 

I didn’t need to think twice about my options. It was either now or never and I preferred the first option. And so I bolted. I ran as fast as I could and as far as my legs just carried me. My heart was pumping like crazy and I was panting harshly when I finally climbed into a high tree and looked around to see if they had followed me. I knew the human was slower than the cougar so maybe they had stayed behind together.

I tried to calm my poor young heart while making sure there was no one to be seen. Still scared and thoroughly humiliated I stayed in the tree for much longer than necessary. I didn’t even think of coming down before I heard the call of one of my sisters. She was somewhere close so I decided to answer her. I only climbed down when I saw her emerge from behind one small hill. I quickly ran to her and pushed against her the best I could. She had always been good at reading me and knew something had spooked me so she spared me from scolding, which I was grateful for. Together we returned to the deep forest.

 

Needless to say, I avoided the area where I had seen the human for some time. I stayed near our nest and tried to be a good kitten for the sake of my sisters. One of them was starting to get into heat and she went away for longer periods of time than usually which left me with only one caretaker. She was the younger of the two although they had been born at the same time. She was the one always teasing me and playing rough with me so I didn’t want to anger her and get scolded.

At least not now that our older sister was away.

She returned with this odd happiness which I had seen in my mom whenever she came to heat. My younger sister only rolled her eyes at her and told me to stay away from her. Apparently she had the right to go near her but I didn’t and it pissed the crap out of me.

One morning I got down from the tree where I had spent the night only to earn an angry growl from my younger sister. At first I didn’t realize why but then I noticed my other sister lying in snow just a leap from where I had landed. 

I answered her by curving my back, lowering my ears onto my scalp and hissing with my teeth bared. She answered me with just as much passion but stopped the moment our eldest sister stood up and lazily walked between the two of us before climbing into a tree. 

Annoyed, I cast my younger sister one last glare before turning my back at her and disappearing into the woods. I was going to try hunting on my own now that only one of my sisters was in the condition of running around in the woods. 

I didn’t get too far from our nest though, when a familiar scent was caught in my nose. I smelled the female human again but this time I was nowhere near the place where we had met the last time. 

With my senses highly alert I tried to look around, to listen to the slightest sounds and to smell her location, but found pretty much nothing. She was somewhere close but I couldn’t say where exactly. 

I found a high tree nearby and ran to it. From the branch I could see further and it didn’t take me long to spot the human walking in my direction. Her fur had changed once again but it was definitely the same human that I had met the last time. 

I panicked. She was heading directly to where my sisters were resting. I was going to have to warn them. I was the only male we had and I had to do something to defend my sisters. I was sure the other one of them was fully capable of taking care of herself but with the other one pregnant they would both be in danger.

And even more because I couldn’t find the adult male cougar anywhere.

Then suddenly I heard a human voice that didn’t come from the female. My attention was drawn back to her and my body stayed frozen in the tree. I saw a male human running towards the female in the snow. He was making sounds that I couldn’t understand. He also had something swinging back and forth around his neck which the female didn’t have.

Suddenly the female came to a stop and turned to face the male who had slowed his pace. They were communicating and lowered their voices significantly. The female stayed quiet when the male made noises and suddenly he began to...take off his fur?

I was watching the weird, creepy act without being able to comprehend how he did it. He let his fur fall on the ground and showed me the ugly fur-less skin of his. I had never understood why humans were born without fur – just like I was in my human form – and it was even more difficult for me to understand why he was doing that in the cold snow. Wasn’t he freezing?

When the male was standing with nothing but his skin on, he suddenly lifted his front paw in my direction. The female spun around with impressive speed and at the same moment the male disappeared. 

He disappeared right in front of my eyes and I was too spooked to stay still on the tree. I ended up falling on my back on the ground which should’ve been impossible because cats always land on their feet. Well, I wasn’t a normal cat anyway.

I scrambled onto my feet and frantically looked for the female but I became still when my eyes found the same male cougar standing right next to the female that I had seen before. He was the one who had pinned me down into the snow. 

My poor heart started to beat faster and it made me slightly dizzy. And yet my body stayed still. I didn’t run away like I should have.

Slowly the cougar began to approach me, leaving the female behind him. It became difficult for me to remember how to breathe and I really wanted to flee but there was something in these two that drew me towards them. 

He was about the halfway towards me when he stopped and tilted his head a little to the side, his eyes never leaving me. I was also watching him closely although not with the same curiosity as he had towards me - I was freaking out underneath my fur.

Then suddenly, just as quickly as he had disappeared and turned into a mountain lion, he changed back into his human form. He stayed like that just for a couple of seconds before he returned into his cat body.

I was gaping at him without understanding what was happening. 

The cougar walked a bit closer to me before he did the same again. He never took his eyes away from me but my eyes darted away from him at times, to check where the female was. He approached me a little by little before he stopped just about a leap away from me. 

To my horror I realized it would be pointless to try and run now that he was so close to me. He would catch me easily with just one powerful jump.

He changed his body into a human once more before turning back into a cat. My eyes perked up when he didn’t take any more steps towards me but instead he sat down on the snow. He was probably waiting for me to react somehow but when I did absolutely nothing he moved his front legs forwards until he could press his head on them. 

I was stunned by his act. He was simply just lying there in front of me. Somehow I knew he wouldn’t run after me anymore if I chose to bolt, which I was still tempted to do. I didn’t make a move, though, even when I had the chance.

There was something about this cougar-human that made me stay on my place with my hind legs bent and my front legs spread wide in front of me in a position from where it would be easy to run. He wasn’t threatening or angry. Instead he was calm and relaxed.

It was like his relaxed state was extending to me also as I unconsciously began to relax. I let more of my body weight rest on my hind legs and eased the tension in my shoulders. I still kept my eyes locked onto him, only sometimes moving my gaze to the female who had stayed still ever since I fell from the tree.

We stayed like that for a long time during which none of us moved. It was the female who broke the still silence first my making a sound that the male cougar recognized. He turned his head away from me for the first time and swiped his tail sideways for a few times.

They were communicating in a weird way. I had never heard of cougars understanding humans. This male was breaking everything I knew about cougars and humans. 

I watched in awe when the male changed his body but stayed somewhere in the midway of being a cat and a human. He had his ears, his fur on most of his body, his legs were mountain lion's and his tail was still there. Only his face wasn’t covered in fur and his face was that of a human's. I realized that even though he could understand her, she couldn't understand him if he was in his cougar form. He had to change in order to be able to communicate properly with her. 

When they were done communicating he turned back into a full cat body and returned his attention back to me. I hadn't made a single move during the whole time. 

And I didn't move even when the cougar got back on his feet and took the few remaining steps towards me. I lowered my head in mixed feelings of fear and submission when he stopped right before me. I didn't know what to expect but I definitely didn't expect him to push his head against mine with an affectionate purr. 

It only lasted for a short moment before he jogged back to the female. She was still watching me but when the cougar brushed against her leg she bent down and placed her mouth against the top of his head for only a brief moment. She stood up quickly after that and after taking the males fur from the snow she began to make her way away from me. 

The male cougar stayed a bit behind her while still watching me. The female noticed how he didn't follow him and obviously called for him because he quickly turned his tail to me and ran to catch her up. 

 

My latest encounter with the human and the male cougar bugged me through the whole winter. I couldn't get them out of my mind and I tried to search for them again but failing time after time. 

Winter already turned into spring and it came the time for my sister to give birth. She had three healthy kittens, all girls. We were all thrilled. 

My younger sister took me to hunt with her more often now that the new mother needed to rest and be with her newborn kittens. I was a fast learner and we were all happy to get out tummies full more often than in the winter. 

The kittens already had their fur when I met the male cougar again. I was wandering on the ground, looking for prey when I noticed him in a tree. He was silently watching me while lazily moving his tail back and forth. 

I stopped on my tracks and watched him as he jumped down with amazing ease. He was even more graceful than my sisters. 

I was prepared for the possibility that he might approach me but I once again found myself staring at him totally dumbfounded when he turned his tail to me and slowly began to walk away. I want sure if it was simply because the female wasn't there or if he wanted me to follow him. 

Eventually it was my curiosity that won and my paws began to lead me after him. He walked slowly, lazily, and time after time he glanced behind himself to see if I was still there. 

We walked a long way like that. Sometimes I would stop and stay behind for just a while to check my surroundings. We were nearing the border of our territory but somehow I knew I would be safe with this male cougar. Males had their own territories and they usually overlapped those of the females so maybe we were still in his territory if we crossed the line of ours. That was at least what I hoped for. Otherwise we would both be in danger. 

I grew more cautious when we left the familiar area. I began to walk closer to him and I rarely stopped anymore. It didn't mean I wasn’t still looking around every time I heard a twig being broken somewhere in the woods. The male stayed relatively calm and didn't even lift his ears whereas I was clearly overdoing everything. 

We were climbing up a small hill when I came to a complete stop. Behind that hill I could see smoke rising into the air. It was a sign of humans and I had always been told to turn around whenever I saw smoke. 

The male cougar noticed I had stopped and turned to look at me with his tail moving in small, annoyed tugs. He let out a soft growl and turned to continue his way. I was extremely hesitant to follow him anymore but eventually I did. All my senses became even more alert the more we approached the source of the smoke. 

Under the hill I saw what mother called human nests. The smoke was coming from there and the male cougar was walking straight towards it. I freaked, to say at least. This male had to be out of his mind. 

He surely noticed I was frozen on my spot but this time he didn't stop. He didn't change his pace in any way but simply just continued towards the human nest. I stayed still and pressed low on the ground on the hill and helplessly watched as the male cougar walked away from me. I was in foreign territory and really close to a human nest – I was practically an easy target for any grown up animal. If I was surprised by a pack of wolves I would never make it back home.

The male cougar stopped when he was just by the nest. The spot on the nest was of different color than the rest of it and I figured there must’ve been a reason for that. Then the cougar lifted his paw and scraped the spot on the nest before dropping the paw and waiting. Not long after that the spot on the nest moved and revealed a hole where the cougar could go into. 

I perked my head up to see what was happening when the male walked right into the hole. I could hear the same female voice from the inside. Was this where he lived? Did he share his nest with a human?

I slumped back down quickly when I saw the female human poke her head out through the hole and take a look around. She noticed me up on the hill and stopped to watch me for a moment before she went back in. She didn’t close the hole in the nest though, and left it open a little.

I had learned a lot since the first time I saw the human in the woods and I had become more careful whenever moving alone. I was still dead curious but my rationality was becoming stronger and thus I stayed still and observed the nest from a safe-ish distance. Neither of them came out of the nest after that and I could hear the male human voice carrying out through the big hole. He must’ve changed his form into a human body after he went in.

I stayed there for a long while before my stomach reminded me of my hunting trip. I was hungry and my stomach usually won over my brain. So I left and rushed back to my own familiar territory.

 

At the end of the summer the kittens had grown enough to become curious about their surroundings. They got bored easily especially when their mother and aunt were out hunting. They usually left me to babysit since I was younger and more inexperienced than they were.

I had chosen to recline on the ground right outside the nest that was dug under a big tree while the kittens played around and with me. My tail was of course their favorite toy but also my ears seemed to be in their top five. I was annoyed beyond measure but I knew better than to make myself clear to them. Their mother would skin me alive if she came back and found the kittens scared shitless because of me.

Just like the kittens, I got bored easily. I was nearing the adulthood and my hormones were beginning to work. My body was growing and developing into an almost adult cougar body. I had also began to notice the different scents around my sisters. I could now easily tell them apart and also know when they were fertile and when not. It confused me at first but I was slowly learning to tell their scents apart.

I never forgot the human nest in the unfamiliar territory even though I didn’t go there often. I was still scared of it and didn’t want to take any chances that could possibly cost me my life. I had begun to trust the male cougar but also the female to some extent. She appeared much more threatening than the male cougar whenever he was in his cat form. He was something familiar to me whereas she represented the species that I was supposed to be scared of the most. 

It didn’t mean I wasn’t interested in her. There was something familiar in her and now that I was developing my knowledge of scents I realized where the comforting similarity came from. Her scent was oddly familiar to me although I couldn’t tell why.

Suddenly one of the kittens bit too hard on my tail and efficiently she brought me back from my thoughts. I wailed and jumped up, trying to escape the tiny but especially sharp teeth. She fell on the ground on her butt but it didn’t stop her from trying to get my tail back into her mouth. I think she became even more enthusiastic about my tail now that I was conscious about what she was doing and tried to move my tail away from her. She ended up chasing it all around me. I growled silently at her, trying to calm her down a bit but it was futile and when I realized it I laid back down and let her do whatever she pleased.

When I saw the mother of the kittens coming into the view I made a quick decision and bolted. I didn’t want to stay around the kittens any longer than necessary and I would even sacrifice the meal for my freedom. I ran to her, quickly pushed my head against the back of her neck before escaping into the woods. I think she understood why I needed to get away. She was already starting to estrange me from the family and encourage me to roam around and find my own territory. My other sister didn’t give a shit about what I did.

I didn’t care where my feet took me since I was too busy just getting away from the nest. I only realized where I was when I saw the human nest. I stopped at the same hill where I had stayed previously and pressed myself low on the ground, resting my head on my front paws. 

The female was sitting on the grass, doing something really odd with her front paws. She didn’t notice me but I was utterly fascinated by her. Sometimes she would wave her front leg around her head to get rid of all the insects but it was useless as they came back after a short moment. She wasn’t wearing her fur on her legs, only in the mid part of her body and the long black fur on her head was held up somehow. She looked funny.

While she was doing whatever she was doing with her front paws she was making noises. The sounds were non-stop but I didn’t see anyone she would’ve been communicating with. 

I whipped my tail around a little when the insects found me. Usually they didn’t bother me since I was rarely still for long enough for them to sit on me. They were irritating and I now understood why the human tried to wave them off – and she didn’t even have her fur to cover her up.

Just when I was about to turn back and leave because of the insects the hole in the nest opened and the male human walked out. He also had his legs bare and his mid body covered. I tilted my head slightly to the left while trying to figure out why they were like that. Why to take off the fur from their legs and leave it on the middle of the body?

The male walked over to the female who was still making those noises and he bent over behind her. I watched him place his head and mouth on top of her head and realized how that was the same thing the female had done to the male cougar last winter.

I figured it must be a way for humans to show affection just like cougars did when they pushed their heads against one another. 

Then the male human straightened back up and immediately turned to look at me. He was looking directly into my eyes and something in his face changed. He did something with his mouth.

I tried doing the same thing but it only made me show my teeth at him.

He let out a sound that caused the female to look up at him from the ground. He made another sound and lifted his paw in my direction. The female also found me with her eyes and she did the same thing as the male had done. I didn’t realize why they were showing me their teeth but not making any movements towards me. 

I was even more confused when the male returned into their nest only to come back out a moment later with what looked like a big chunk of raw meat. The female made a sound but the male didn’t answer her before he began to slowly walk towards me. I noticed he had got rid of the rest of his fur while he was in his nest.

I watched tensely as he approached me. I didn’t move away from him but was relieved when he stopped a safe distance away from me. He placed the meat on the ground and quickly turned into his cat body. I was dumbfounded for a moment before he poked the meat with his nose. It was a rather clear invitation but I was reluctant to accept it. Male cougars didn’t share their prey – they killed if you tried to take it from them.

He poked the meat for the second time before he lied down on the ground, placing his head on his front paws. His tail was wagging slightly behind him but not in a threatening manner. He was clearly waiting for me to come and eat.

It was an understatement to say I wasn’t careless when I chose to accept the free meal. My stomach was empty and like a fool I took the easy opportunity. Slowly I crawled down the hill until I was just a few steps away from the meat chunk and the male cougar. I stopped and pressed myself flat against the ground, waiting for his approval. 

When he did nothing in a while I dared to approach him. My mouth was starting to water the closer I got to the meat and when I was just a step away I forgot all my rational thoughts about the possible danger and leaped onto the meat.

Oh, it was delicious. It was juicy and filled my stomach easily. I had always been greedy and it hadn’t changed as I was determined to finish the whole meat chunk before the male cougar could change his mind. 

I was so concentrated on eating the meat that I failed to notice the female walking closer to us. She stopped when she was close to the male cougar and bent her hind legs until she was on the ground in a funny position. She placed her hand on the male’s lower back and slowly ran her fingers through his fur. 

I don’t know when it happened but suddenly I my attention was thrown away from the meat by a reddish brown tail that came at me. Startled, I looked up from the meat chunk and saw the male cougar’s tail coming at my face the second time. It hit me square in the face and caused me to flinch. 

I was too confused to run away from the action. This wasn’t the first time the male cougar did something usually the mothers did to their kittens. My mother had done that to me when she still lived and now my sister did that to her kittens whenever they were eating too much or too fast. It was a playful way to get them distracted from the food.

I growled and bared my teeth at him but he didn’t take my threat seriously. His tail came at me for the third time but this time I reacted – which wasn’t necessarily a good thing. 

The kitten in me took the best of me and instead of running away from the playful tail I tried to grab it with my paws. 

The male purred softly but waved his tail at me again. I tried to grab it again. This continued until I managed to pin the tip of the tail down on the ground and playfully nipped it with my canines. The cougar let me have my childish play moment with his tail before he snatched it back from me. I meowed like a young kitten would do, demanding to have the tail back, but my demand died in my throat when I realized the tail was gone and I was staring at the adult male human with his female right by his side. 

The fear I had forgotten came rushing back. I pressed my ears down and curved my back in defensive position. My tail was flat on the ground and my nails long and ready to be used.

Apparently the male knew how to read my body as he quickly changes back into his cougar form. It was freaky to watch it happen so close to me. A fleeting thought of what I must have looked every time I changed into a human body crossed my mind but I discarded it quickly.

The cougar poked me with his tail and this time I didn't try to flinch away from it. Right after he tapped my nose with the tip of his tail he turned back into his human form. It caused me to bare my teeth and hiss at him. He changed back into his cat body and once again poked me with his tail before turning back into a human.

The female was silently watching the two of us without making any movements. I was confused because of what the cougar was doing and thus I had to sometimes take a look at the female to make sure this wasn't some kind of a trick. When I realized the female wasn't probably going to do anything to me I concentrated on the male again.

It took me a long time and many changes from him before I realized what he was trying to get me to do. He was trying to teach me how to change my body into a human one, wasn't he? He did it exactly like mothers did, by showing me an example and expecting me to repeat it after him.

I was tempted to do as he did but it also scared me. I had learned not to change my body into a human one when there was someone else present. I hadn't done it in a long time either since I had been busy babysitting my sister's kittens.

Finally I gave into the temptation. What he was showing me gave me confidence and the way he playfully encouraged me with his tail really did its work. I moved up from the position I was in and took a shy look at the female before earning another playful stroke from the cougar's tail. With his encouragement I let my body take another form.

I opened my eyes to see two humans before me. The female let out a shaky breath and clasped her front paw on the male's front leg. I flinched at the sudden movement but remained sitting on the spot.

The male took a quick look at the female before making a sound. She reacted to it by pushing her front paw through the reddish fur on the top of his head while he leaned into the touch and closed his eyes. It was just like he would've done it in his cougar body. The purr he let out was different but sounded just as pleased as he had previously done when she had touched him. He purred even louder when she leaned forward a bit and placed her mouth on top of his head.

The male then opened his eyes and looked directly at me. He quickly changed into his cat body once again but before I could react he was pushing his head against my neck. I flinched at first, the soft fur feeling funny on my bare skin, but then he changed back into his human body. He was really close to me and I found myself too scared to move. 

I then felt something pressing lightly on the top of my head. It only lasted for a short moment but it was enough for me to realize what he was doing – he had placed his mouth on top of my head just like she had done to him. And that was when I was confirmed that it was indeed a way for humans to show affection.

The male moved away from me after that. He moved back to sit close to the female who had stayed still and quiet. I cautiously moved my eyes from the male to the female. The more I looked at these two humans the weirder they seemed to me. The female's eyes were leaking.

 

I began to change my body’s form more frequently after the last encounter with the humans. I had realized how inexperienced I really was compared to the adult male cougar-human. He changed his form easier and faster than I did. He was also gracious whenever he moved around, no matter if he was a human or a wild cat. I on the other hand had difficulties standing on two legs and even more when trying to walk like that.

I hadn’t had a model to teach me how to walk like humans. I was only familiar with going on all four. It angered me how the adult male made it look so easy and I couldn’t even take one step without almost falling over. My sense of balance sucked at first but I was determined to improve it.

I continued visiting the human nest time after time. Sometimes it would take me days before I had time to go there again and sometimes I visited there daily. They never knew when I would appear on the hill and when I would stay home with my sisters and the kittens. 

Whenever I went to the human nest I made sure my sisters didn’t see me. I didn’t want them to know I visited humans even though the other one of them was like me. They wouldn’t take it well. 

I had grown really attached to these humans as the time passed. It was the last days of summer when I decided to pay them a visit. I knew it would soon be too cold for me to change into my human form as I didn’t have the same kind of fur as they did – the one they could remove and put on again.

Like many times before I sat on the top of the hill and waited for them to come out and see me. It took them longer than normal to come out though. I waited and waited until I couldn’t stay still anymore. Slowly I edge towards the nest while keeping my body low on the ground. Something didn’t feel right and I was becoming nervous about the situation. 

I sneaked to the nest and sniffed around. Their scents were still strong in the air and I could hear noise coming from inside the nest. They were muffled but I could clearly hear the male’s voice. The female was quieter but she was definitely in there.

But there was also a new scent that I didn’t recognize. It didn’t smell as enticing as the female and the male. It was more bitter…

...it smelled a bit like a wolf.

I was very close to the hole of the nest when suddenly burst open and a foreign male human fell on the ground. He didn’t seem to notice me even though I was just about two steps away from him. He was naked and clearly angry. His face was directed to the nest and he was making angry sounds. 

I pressed myself flush against the side of the nest. The anger of the male was obvious and something I had never seen before. I forgot how to breathe when the male cougar appeared from the nest. He was in his human form and he was just as angry as the other male on the ground.

Neither of them was wearing their fur and it caused me to wonder what the reason was. The male cougar stepped towards the other male who was getting back onto his hind legs. They were both growling at one another and I could smell the aggressive pheromones. 

My heart missed a beat when the unknown male suddenly noticed me cowering near the hole of the nest. He bared his teeth to me and growled, which wouldn’t have appeared even nearly as intimidating as it did when his teeth didn’t resemble anything of the humans’ and neither did the sound he made. 

The male cougar reacted quickly to the growl of the other male. He let out an angry growl of his own just before he turned into a form that was somewhere between the human and cougar. I could see his tail and his claw, his ears perking on the top of his head. He didn’t take a look in my direction but I was certain he was able to smell my presence.

The unknown male seemed to make some kind of a connection between me and the male cougar-human. Something in his eyes changed and he made a same kind of a transformation as the other male. He bared his sharp, long canines to me. Dark gray ears shot up on his head and a tail of the same color peaked from between his hind legs.

I reacted faster than my brain could process when the unknown male suddenly leaped towards me. He was fast and had a huge advantage thanks to his height. I wailed in pain when I felt his claws scraping my right hind leg but I managed to get out of his grip. With adrenaline pumping in my system I ran behind the male cougar who had reacted but was just a bit too slow. I ran into the nest only to panic even more.

The nest wasn’t anything even close to normal nests. There were all sorts of weird things but I was too much in pain and scared to realize what they were. I dove under the nearest thing I found and whined in the dark corner. 

The female had yelped when I had run into their nest. She had been in, sitting on something while listening to the events going on outside. She hadn’t known about me before seeing me disappear into the darkness.

The space was tight and I couldn’t lift my head. I tried to strain my neck to examine the wound on my leg but I soon noticed it would require me to get out of my hide, which I wasn’t ready to do. The male cougar was fighting with the other male outside and I could still hear both of them growling. I saw them from the hole once and they had both changed into their animal forms. The male cougar was in his beautiful reddish brown fur whereas the other turned out to be a big dark gray-and-white wolf. 

The female also saw the fight and she ran to the hole. She didn’t even try to break the two free from one another, just closed the hole of the nest by pushing something in front of it. The sounds coming from outside were muffled and I relaxed a bit. 

She descended on the ground and sat on her hind legs with her face in my direction. Her expression was the one I had gotten used to – the corners of her mouth curved slightly upwards – and I relaxed even more. I was still anxious about the fact that I was invading someone else’s nest but I had more important things to focus onto.

I slowly crawled out of my hide but stopped immediately when I was out of there, not approaching the female any more than necessary. When I was able to, I turned to investigate my injuries only to find three deep cuts on my hind leg. 

I wailed when I registered just how bad they actually were. They were deep and now that I saw just how deep the pain intensified even more. 

The female saw my agony and reacted out of instinct. She inched closer to me but kept her movements careful and cautious. I froze when I saw her in the corner of my eye. Unsure of what she was doing I tensed and hissed at her. She immediately stopped and gave me more space. 

I bent down to tenderly lick my bleeding wounds, grimacing at the taste of my own blood and wincing at the pain it caused. I still tried to tender my wounds but gave up when I heard the sound of the hole of the nest being opened. I looked up to see the familiar male human. He looked tired and his eyes were clearly searching for something. His body relaxed when he saw me. 

The female turned to the male and they communicated aloud for a short moment before she got up from the ground. She walked into another part of the nest and left me alone with the male. Although I had grown to trust the male wouldn't hurt me it didn't make me feel any less unsure about the situation. I was invading his nest and males could be very adhesive when defending their personal space. 

The male smoothly shifted into his cat form and slowly approached me. I studied his body language closely but moved my gaze elsewhere. He knew I allowed him to come closer. 

I looked at him only when I felt the touch of his tongue on my injured leg. I flinched unconsciously and tried to get away from him but he calmed me with the look he gave me. He then turned back into his human form and nodded his head in my direction, encouraging me to do the same. 

I glanced at my hurt leg before changing from my familiar mountain lion body to my insecure human one. The man gave me the same kind of a look as the female had previously given me – by curling the corners of his mouth upwards without showing his teeth to me.

Again I turned my head away from him and tried my best to ignore the pain in my leg. He neared me again and this time I felt his warm front paw touching my bare skin. It felt odd but somehow comforting and it helped me to relax.

The female came back to the space where we were. She had something in her front paws. She approached us cautiously and made a sound that I had learned to recognize – she made it whenever she needed to gain the male’s attention. Like many times before he turned his head in her direction and answered her. 

They had a conversation of a sort that only lasted for a few moments before the male shifted his full attention back to me. I still wasn’t looking at him, not before he called for me.

“Donghae?”

Knowing that sound meant me, I shyly turned my head to him. With his body he asked the female to come closer while all the time making sure I knew what was happening. She placed the thing on the ground and sat on the ground right next to the male. 

He made more sounds in my direction but I had no idea what he was saying. I tilted my head in confusion and closely followed his every movement with my eyes. He reached for the thing the female had brought and lifted something up from there. It was dripping wet and looked like the fur the humans usually had on. 

I snarled at the sight of the thing he was holding in his front paws. He squished it tightly before bringing it closer to me. He stopped and let me examine the odd piece of fur in his paw and waited patiently. I tried to sniff it and understand what it was but it only smelled wet. Confused, I lifted my eyes back to him.

He curled the corners of his mouth before leaning forward to me. I already knew what that meant and knew to anticipate his mouth on top of my head. I had learned to like it actually – it wasn’t much different from what cats did. 

When he pulled out the corners of his mouth were curled even higher than before. I had a warm feeling in my tummy when they did that. Somehow I knew they were expecting me to do the same but I wasn’t sure if I would do it correctly so I refrained myself. 

He then brought the thing in his paw closer to my injured leg. I watched him with worry but didn’t stop him. Gently the wet thing touched my injuries and caused me to hiss in pain but he calmed me with the look he gave me and continued what he was doing. The thing was quickly turning red with my blood and he dropped it in the water to clean it. After that he brought the thing back to my wound.

This process repeated itself until the water was bright red and my bleeding wounds clean. He left the thing in the water and the female took it away again.

 

I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back to my sisters that night. I wouldn’t be able to walk for that long with my injured leg and I would be an easy target for bigger hunters than me. I ended up staying in the human nest. The humans didn’t seem to mind it the least bit. They gave me food and water and even offered me some human fur. I turned the offer down, however, not being comfortable with too many new things all at once. I mostly stayed in my cougar body but whenever the male came to me I changed into my human form so he could clean my wounds easier.

The sun wasn’t even up when I walked to the hole in the wall. The humans were still fast asleep, sleeping on something soft together. They had also covered their bodies with something big and wide enough to cover them almost completely, leaving only their heads visible for me.

I studied the wall silently but couldn’t understand how to open it. There was something shiny jutting out of the thing blocking the hole but I couldn’t figure out the function of it. I tried to rise onto my hind legs but the wounds on my right leg caused me to crumble down with a cry. 

The female stirred to the sound I made. I felt bad for interrupting her rest but she curled the corners of her mouth up when she saw me. Slowly she turned to face the male behind her back and woke him up also. The male snapped wide awake the moment she made the sound used to call me. My ears automatically also perked up at hearing it.

The male sat up and located me by the door. He was quick to change his form and gracefully leaped over the female. He jogged over to me and pushed his head against mine. I let out a soft purr in exchange. 

He then glanced at the female before turning to the thing blocking the hole of the nest. The female got up and walked over to us with both of us watching her. She reached for the shiny thing on the blocking object and twisted it in her paw. I had to move aside because the thing moved away from the hole but at the same time it blocked my way. I quickly rounded it and followed the male cougar out. 

He walked with me almost all the way to the area where our nest was located. Our pace was slow because of my injuries but he was patient and didn’t rush me. 

I stopped only when I heard the call of one of my sisters. She was somewhere close to us and I was tempted to answer her. She was clearly distressed because of my absence. I had never been away from the nest for the night like that. 

I glanced at the male in doubt, not sure if I should answer her or not. I trusted the male but I wasn’t sure if I trusted him enough to let him near my family. The male didn’t seem to be bothered by the calls of my sister. He was calmly watching me with his head tilted slightly to the side. He was waiting to see what I chose to do.

I pressed my ears low on my head and then reluctantly answered her call. She called me again and waited for me to answer her so she could locate me better. Two more calls and I saw her running towards us from the bushes only to freeze on her spot when she saw the unknown male cougar.

She bared her teeth and growled a warning at him but he was barely affected. He did something really bold that neither of us expected and sat down on the ground, keeping his head held high. I saw the way my sister reacted to the act and it was definitely not promising. I didn’t want them to fight, especially not because she was the one with the kittens at the nest.

I didn’t even realize what I did before I had already done it and caused my sister to gape at us without knowing what to do. I had pushed my head gently against the male’s neck and purred loudly. It was a clear way to show her he was not going to harm us.

She was still doubtful though and I knew she wouldn’t approach us any more than she had already. I moved my eyes away from her and looked at the male. He also turned his head to me and growled gently. I answered by quickly brushing against him as I passed him and limped to my sister. She was watching me closely and I pushed my head against hers when I came to her. She seemed to appreciate my apologetic gesture. Together we walked into the bushes and left the male behind us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** I reeeeeeally hope this wasn't a disappointment after such a looooooong wait... And I'm terribly sorry for making you wait for so long... 
> 
> Please... comments, positive and negative! They're all appreciated! 
> 
> <3 Sung Gi


End file.
